Getty Images makes millions of images free to embed

Many photographers have benefited from the Internet, but the environment has also proved challenging when it comes to copyright, giving credit where it's due and payments. Now, photography firm Getty Imagess has made tens of millions of its images free to use via a new embed tool.

Bloggers, website owners, social media users and others that want to use images from Getty free of charge can now use the company's image embedding service. The new tool will give access to around 35 million images.

According to Getty, the new resource "serves to power a more image-rich, digital world in situations where traditional licensing models are not appropriate or where they simply don't work".

The creators of the images are credited for the use of the image and the embedding tool allows for the licensing of the photos for commercial firms by linking the viewer back to the Getty Images website.

The move will provide people with a "simple and legal way to utilize content that respects creators' rights".

The embedding tool works on any HTML-based site. Furthermore, images can be shared on social networks including Twitter and blog platforms such as WordPress, which has about 75 million users.